noah, "SOME" voters view unions as a special interest?i'd say you were a whole big tad off on the word "SOME." ma

Senator Sidelines will win even though he is an empty suit. Voters don't really understand that a vote for Brown is a vote for McConnel, Boener, Cantor and the ideology espoused by Rush Limbaugh. Lets be clear, he votes WITH them way more than against them. He votes with the Dems when it is safe to do so. He pretends to be independent. The only anomalies are the recent votes against any jobs bill, birth control and women's health, but that just goes to show his true colors. Dudes always want the woman to take responsibility for birth control and Brown apparently WANTS more unwanted pregnancies so the Republicans can rail against abortion forever!

Once again the tired argument about the "big bad unions". Unions helped eliminate child labor, establish a minimum wage and make employment practices transparent. Anyone who is part of the middle class is in debt to the early unions. Look what is happening now - our children are being offered substandard work conditions, limited health benefits, and "part time" (34 hours)employment. The American Dream cannot be built on part time, piecemeal, low wage jobs. That's what the next generation has to look forward to.

Elizabeth Warren is another inexperienced political candidate who apparently has not done her homework. She apparently is out of touch with the people of this state. Voting for Warren would be a huge mistake.In what way would this woman be an effective member of congress? PLEASE!

So what are unions? It is a group of PEOPLE who join together to do what? Bankrupt the companies they work for? Make working conditions worse? Create chaos in the negotiating process between employer and employee? Of course not on all counts. This would be shooting themselves in their collective feet. Skilled trades people, police, teachers, long distant drivers, service personnel with union participation strengthen our economy and provide an appropriate share of earnings to themselves as well as their bosses. GM got in trouble not because of unions but because of lapse of solid management and health care costs. They have made progress on the former but the latter is still a work in progress. It was temporarily solved by unions paying a larger portion for the coverage. This was the same that happened in Massachusetts with their unions. It would be ideal if all employers were guided by a keene sense of the worth of their workforce, but this is often not the case. When union workers have a thorough understanding of their place of business the negotiation process is streamlined and a win-win result is hammered out. In non union settings the bargaining is one on one between employer and employee and does little to get input on increasing profit and producing better products. So one way or the other the interaction between boss and employee continues, union or not.

Look at Detroit after the unions greed killed the auto industry, it's a ghost town. Of course the crooked democrats who are owned by the greedy money grubbing unions will keep them fed with our tax money until nobody is able to live in the city but people in public housing. Lizzy's in a tizzy. I am going to vote for Scott Brown.

There are private sector unions and there are public sector unions and they are two entirely different animals. Private sector unions work; the negotiating parties have something to win and something to lose. Public sector unions are a farce. Both sides have something to win and nothing to lose. Politicians give the unions almost anything they want and the unions support the politicians in return. The people who actually pay the salaries, benefits and pensions for public sector workers - the taxpayers - don't have a seat at the table.

It was not the unions that killed the American auto industry. It was the penny pinchers who after the engineers got through cheapened everything they could to enhance the bottom line on the balance sheet. This drove the American public to foreign cars whose union workers were as well paid as American workers.

Warren should be known as "the special interest" candidate for sure. anyone who does not understand that the union leaders (not to be confused with the union members who pay those leader's salaries), are a defining example of a special interest. they support anyone who commits to toeing the line relative to maintaining the extraordinary powers the union leaders possess. Flag men? Gotta collective bargain.. Drug testing? Gotta collective bargain.. Switch towns to State health plan? Gotta collective bargain.. End Evacuation Day? Gotta collective bargain.. Pay a dollar for healthcare (let alone what the rest of us pay)? Gotta collective bargain.. Pick up after yourself? Gotta collective bargain.. No texting on the job? Gotta collective bargain.. Stay aware on the job? Gotta collective bargain.. The union leaders have a special interest in protecting their extraordinary special powers, which lead to the extraordinary special abuses popping up daily in this paper. Vote for Granny to keep the circus show in town.

And a vote for Warren is a vote for Pelosi Reid, Schumer and Obama. Where's the budget Lord? Where is Obama's legally obligated response to Medicare? "Within fifteen days of presenting his budget plan, the President is required by law to send a legislative proposal to Congress to address Medicare's looming insolvency. For four straight years, this 'Medicare trigger' has been issued. And for four straight years, President Obama has ignored the alarm and fled his post

FDR was opposed to public sector unions because of their corrupting influence on elections. I believe it is time to remove municipal workers from the labor movement.

Good for the Globe. WBUR also broke its unions. The question remains "Why do state and municipal governments tolerate unions?

Municipal labor unions have destroyed the American educational system. The city hall compatriots are too busy running errands for the politicians who give them large salaries and benefits. Please do not compare the goof balls members of municipal unions with the worker unions.

A candidate could garner more votes by stating "Hey Unions, grow up and join productive society"